


Devour

by xannish



Category: Pet Shop of Horrors
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-05 15:34:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1095684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xannish/pseuds/xannish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Leon scowled. “Look, you’d better be doing more than assuming.  We get a guy disappearing out of his house, car still in his driveway, with a wife who won’t say jack. That’s already really suspicious. When the last person she called on that night was you? Well, I’ve got more than a few questions.”</i>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>(An early case in the first series. Leon investigates the disappearance of one of D's clients.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Devour

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kalloway](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalloway/gifts).



The businessman walked into the pet shop and his wife waited in the car in the parking lot a block down the road. He hadn’t told her where he was going, only that she should wait there. She knew better than to disobey.

The proprietor of the pet shop stood behind the counter, a strange young man with mismatched eyes. “Welcome to Count D’s Chinatown Pet Shop.”

The businessman frowned at him. “You’re ‘Count D?’”

The young man smiled pleasantly. “The Count is my grandfather. I am running the shop in his stead. Is there something I can help you with?”

“I was told you had exotic animals here, things that no one has seen.” He glanced around at the tanks and cages in the shop.  Reptiles, birds, and small animals looked back at him curiously.

“I do,” D agreed cautiously. “Though not all of them are on display. What exactly are you looking for?”

“A present for my wife. Having something around the house to take care of might snap her out of her funk she’s been in. Something unique, but…” He tapped the glass of a tank that held a red and black striped tarantula, “Something… charismatic. Cute. Something she’d like.”

“I may have something that would suit her, but I usually prefer to deal directly with the creature’s potential caregiver him or herself. These creatures can be very particular, and I want to ensure that there is no… conflict of personality.”

“It’s fine. It’s a gift, and besides, it’s an animal. How picky can it be?”

D’s lips tightened, but he simply inclined his head. “Even so. Will you sign for the pet and accept responsibility for it?”

“Yes, yes, whatever is required. What animal are you thinking of?”

“It isn’t on display. If you will come this way?” D moved towards the doors to the back room, and the businessman followed.

“But what are we looking at?” he asked as they walked down the long hallway.

“It is known as an Al-Mir’aj, a rare breed of rabbit from the Middle East. They are very shy and territorial, and rarely seen, much less taken into captivity. Ah, here.” D stopped and opened the door.

 This is what the businessman saw:

The fine sitting room was dominated by a large wire pen only two feet tall, lined with hay and straw. In the center of the pen knelt what appeared to be a girl in her late teens with warm brown skin and long hair horizontally striped with black and pale brown. She was exceptionally beautiful, and wore only a few scraps of what looked like golden silk, but the most striking thing was that from her forehead protruded a black spiral horn, slightly curving upwards, perhaps the size of his hand. She looked up at them with eyes as gold as the silk she wore, and tilted her head.

“What—what is this?” the businessman asked.

“The Al-mi’raj,” D replied. He went to the sideboard where a tray of cut vegetables lay and chose a thin stick of carrot, which he held out to the businessman. “Would you like to try feeding her?”

Perhaps in shock, the businessman took the carrot and stepped forward, holding it out towards the Al-mi’raj. The girl leaned forward and took it with her mouth, her warm, full lips brushing his hand. He gasped softly.

“There are conditions associated with her ownership. If you are still interested?”

“Yes,” the businessman said, covetous lust in his voice. “Yes. I am. I’ll take her. Any price.”

D smiled thinly. “Of course. Please review this contract, paying special mind to the clauses here: First, you must never show her to anyone except your wife. Second, you must ensure that she has clean water and fresh vegetables daily. Third, you must give her a room where she can hop about freely, and must try never to make her feel as if you are threatening what is hers.”

The businessman scowled. “What’s with all of that?”

“As I said, they are a very territorial breed.”

The businessman dismissed it as the Chinaman’s eccentricity and signed the contract with a flourish. The Al-mi’raj crept closer, wide-eyed and curious.

“Does she have a name?” the businessman asked.

“I have been calling her Amina,” D answered. He bent down to lift the pet into his arms, and held her out to the businessman. “Please take good care of her.”

The man gathered the girl close. She was breathing quickly, her little heart fluttering against his chest. “I definitely will.”

 

*******

“Okay,” Leon said, leaning on the table, his hands clasped in front of him. “So what happened after that?” It was a week later, and the detective had made one of his increasingly frequent stops into the pet shop, this time asking about the mysterious disappearance of an affluent Pacific Heights businessman.

D stirred his tea, watching the sugar dissolve. “He took the Al-mi’raj home to his wife, I would assume.”

“Look, you’d better be doing more than assuming.  We get a guy disappearing out of his house, car still in his driveway, with a wife who won’t say jack. That’s already really suspicious. When the last person she called on that night was you? Well, I’ve got more than a few questions.”

D tilted his head. “The wife wouldn’t say anything?”

“No, and it looks like guilt. Hell, from everything I hear, if she offed him it was justified. Neighbors and family both say it was a bad relationship and getting worse. Screaming fights every night, mysterious bruises, that kind of thing.”

“Oh dear.”

“No one would come out and say it, but sounds like our man was a wife-beater. And when I saw her, she had a faded bruise on her shoulder. I tried to ask about that, too, but still just got silence. She did still have that damn rabbit you gave them, though. Wouldn’t put it down. So why don’t you tell me what she called you about that night.”

D smiled thinly. “As you wish.”

He set down his teacup and leaned back in his seat. “As I mentioned, the Al-mi’raj is a very territorial creature, and with the husband giving her to his wife, and with the wife’s care, the pet came to see the wife as a thing under her protection. “

“Okay…” Leon prompted, not seeing the connection.

“So, when the husband threatened his wife, the Al-mi’raj took it as an attack on her property, and… removed the threat.”

Leon stared at him. “You’re saying the rabbit did something to him?”

D’s expression turned regretful. “Indeed. I did tell him not to make her feel threatened, but he didn’t obey. When madam called me to tell me what had happened, I offered to take the creature back. But she insisted on keeping her.”

“Hold on, back up with me a sec. How does a rabbit get rid of a human? Not that I want to know with the things you sell, but we scoured that house and couldn’t find any sign of a struggle. No blood, nothing.”

“In its native land, the Al-mi’raj supplements its diet with fresh meat, taking down creatures many times its size. And as for its eating habits, it is very neat, and very… thorough.”

Leon looked a little green. “How does that even work?”

D shrugged dismissively. “I cannot say that I know the details of their metabolism, only what has been recorded and observed. So, I believe you will not find any evidence that will incriminate the wife or any signs of the husband’s whereabouts.”

The police officer ran his hands through his hair. “I don’t think I can take much more of this. Carnivorous rabbits and crazy myths, and of course, no evidence left over. Might as well turn in my badge.”

D reached out and lay a hand on his shoulder. “I don’t think that you really mean that. You do the city a great service. There are simply some things that fall outside of the laws you are accustomed to.”

“What I don’t get is why she kept the rabbit. I mean, she saw what it did to her husband. How does she know it’s not going to snap and do the same thing to her, too?”

“Sometimes people find that the rewards of companionship are worth the risk. And the unknowns.”

Leon looked up and met D’s mismatched eyes, gentle and mysterious, intent upon him.

“Yeah. Maybe sometimes they are. Hey, how about I bring a box of those pastries you like so much, and we talk more about this tomorrow?”

D smiled. “I would enjoy that very much.”

“Yeah,” Leon agreed as he stood up and collected his things. “Me too.”


End file.
